Fig. 4. Flow-induced evolution of cell-substrate contact areas. Individual cell-substrate contact area was imaged during shear flow application (=4 Pa) by RICM at a 40x magnification. The peeling velocity has already been analysed for its relationship with the applied shear stress (Decave et al., 2002a). (A,B) Representative set of cell substrate contact area position over time. The dotted line indicates the position of the rear of the cell at the beginning of the recording. The cell's rear and front edges are indicated by black and white circles, respectively. Arrows indicate the flow direction. Arrowheads indicate rapid increases of cell-substrate contact area (bursts). (A) Untreated cells. The solid line indicates the overall direction of the cell during the considered straight movement. (B) In the presence of 20 µg ml^–1 CIPC. (C,D) Positions of cell rear (closed diamonds) and front (open squares) edges over time for untreated (C) and CIPC-treated (D) cells. The data correspond to the cells shown in A and B, respectively. Arrows indicate rapid increases of cell-substrate contact area (burst phases). The sixth extension of the front edge (C, t=215 seconds) is longer than the others (7 µm instead of 2 µm). This corresponds to several bursts occurring simultaneously. Notice that the rear peeling velocities of CIPC-treated and untreated cells are identical in this case, in which both cells are going to detach. (E,F) Distribution of rear (E) and front (F) edge instant velocities. The data correspond to the cell shown in A. The cell rear movement exhibits a single peak at 0.2 µm second^–1 velocity. Bursts and immobility phases in the cell front movement correspond to peaks at 0.5 µm second^–1 and 0 µm second^–1, respectively.

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